Michael McCormick
thousandleaves.bsky.social
Michael McCormick
@thousandleaves.bsky.social
Lives in central Iowa, United States.

Gave up software development for the twin hobbies of woodworking and walking my dog.

Technology is cool when it's not shitty.

I prefer my public servants to be non-felonius.

He/him. Ally as best I can.
Reposted by Michael McCormick
I wrote something for The Nation about how Republican style has changed over the last fifty years.

But first, let me tell you a short story. 🧵

www.thenation.com/article/soci...
How Did Republican Fashion Go From Blazers to Belligerence?
Trump and his cronies’ style reflects a platform where grievance is currency and performance is power.
www.thenation.com
September 11, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
“Smells Like Teen Spirit”, released as a single 34 yrs ago today

“No one had any psychic foresight .. that the song would go on to do what it did,” said Grohl. “We just fuckin’ rocked it in a little rehearsal space that was like a barn. .. We just thought it was another cool song for the record.”
September 10, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
please contact me if you control "dark money" and want to pay me to promote high rise trousers, walkable neighborhoods, and adopting shelter animals
August 29, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
Have you ever noticed that people dressed better in the past? Even in the summer, when it was scorching hot?

Why is this? 🧵
August 13, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
I get the same amount regardless so I have no actual preference, buy it from wherever you like, from an economic point of view it's all the same to me. That said, if you also want to support a local indie bookseller while getting ebooks:

bookshop.org/ebooks
August 7, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
"I don’t care if Clinton is in the Epstein files. I don’t care if any Democrats are on the client list. I don’t care if any progressives are on the client list... You know why? Because I'm not in a cult."

charlotteclymer.substack.com/p/i-dont-car...
I Don't Care if Democrats Are in the Epstein Files
Hold them all accountable.
charlotteclymer.substack.com
July 12, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
I think people have yet to wake up to just how amazing e-bikes are. I commute about 20 miles a day, using about 10 cents of electricity. (Mostly on safe trails.)
Every time I ride my brain is ecstatic. I get a workout, but don’t need to shower when I get to work.
July 12, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
Trade letter for the Heard and McDonald Islands just dropped.
July 7, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
For the first half of my kindergarten year, my family lived in a shitty little apartment complex somewhere in Central Texas. I forget where. I think Waco? Copperas Cove? We moved around a lot. If memory serves correctly, I attended three different schools that year.

(thread)
July 4, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
Hard to take seriously the red-white-and-blue rhetoric of freedom on a 4th of July where the US president has cut off aid to a democracy fighting for its independence against ferocious attack by a foreign tyrant.
July 4, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
I'm sure some of y'all are wondering what the hell is going on in D.C. tonight.

Summary: GOP Senators are being openly greedy and corrupt with all their personal asks in the Big Beautiful Bill, but they're struggling to fit all those asks, like a snake choking on a bucket of dead mice.

(1/3)
July 1, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
When confronted with the misdeeds of other nations, why did Donald Trump respond by saying that America is no better? @radiofreetom.bsky.social on the president’s smears on his own country:
Trump Insults America—Again
The president of the United States seems to have no interest in appealing to a national sense of pride or honor.
bit.ly
June 30, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
As Pride Month comes to its annual conclusion, I've gone ahead and made some supplementary donations to @translifeline.org and Transgender Law Center, because now is certainly the time for that, isn't it. The world (and my personal world) is better for the trans folks who are in it. Simple as that.
June 30, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
Judson Memorial Church (New York), instructing us that “if empathy is a sin, sin boldly.”
June 29, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
Why am I so unimpressed by these strikes? Israel and the US have failed to target significant elements of Iran's nuclear materials and production infrastructure. RISING LION and MIDNIGHT HAMMER are tactically brilliant, but may turn out to be strategic failures. 🧵 1/17
June 23, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
No matter where you live, please consider adopting an animal from your local shelter. I promise you they will brighten your life beyond measure. They are the comfort on hard days. Even if you can't fully adopt, your local shelter could use help fostering. Reach out to them to see.
June 23, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
USA foreign policy in the Middle East for the last 50 is basically just attempting to bomb countries into being liberal democracies and getting really mad every single time when it never ever works.
June 19, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
Remember this moment. Trump is reveling in the narcisisstic and sadistic thrill of threatening others with violent death. He will start to crave that feeling.
Trump tweets about Iran and not killing the Supreme Leader “for now”
June 17, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
Happy No Kings Day to all of us who celebrate.
June 14, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
Possible to start to tell a unified story: "Trump is personally too old, crazy, and confused to run things, so at any given time the question is which co-president is in charge. At first it was Musk, & we got the crazy chaotic DOGE era. Then Navarro: a trade war that crashed markets. Now Miller..."
June 12, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
It’s good to see me, isn’t it? 💜✨

Yes, yes, the rumors are true — we are OFFICIALLY launching here on Bluesky!

In case you forgot, we’re a place to buy books online where every purchase supports local bookstores, not billionaires.

Thanks for being here 🙌🏽
June 2, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
Every year on Memorial Day, I share this video of French caretakers who take sand from Omaha Beach in Normandy, and scrub them into the letters to give them the gold coloring.

They do this for all 9,386 US soldiers who died.

France also gave us this land as American soil.
May 26, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
"I’ve been struggling mightily over the past two days with the question of what is and isn’t appropriate to say on an occasion that’s meant to be dedicated to remembering the women and men in uniform who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country."

charlotteclymer.substack.com/p/feeling-na...
Feeling Naïve on Memorial Day
I honestly can't tell anymore.
charlotteclymer.substack.com
May 26, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Michael McCormick
May 20, 2025 at 8:44 PM